Coughed White Mucus With Brown Spots After Smoking Weed And Chest Pain. Should I Get Check-up?

Posted on Thu, 21 Nov 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 21 Nov 2013 Answered on

Wed, 11 Dec 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I have smoked weed everyday for 3 years and have coughed up white mucus with brown spots in it regularly for about a month now. I have some moderate pain in my left chest and have minor asthma. Have decided to stop smoking and use a vaporizer. Is this a normal bodily reaction to smoking or something I should have checked out?

Answered by Dr. Chobufo Ditah (1 hour later)

Brief Answer: Please get it checked out! Detailed Answer: Hi and thank you so uh for this query. I am so sorry to hear about these mucus with brown spots that you have been experiencing for the past 1 month. It doesn't seem to represent a very concerning disease but we should address it before making that conclusion. Smoking clearly increases the chances of having lung problems. When symptoms develop, we need to investigate appropriate and make sure that they don't represent any diseases that warrants immediate attention. It is only when nothing abnormal is found that we may the associate these symptoms to smoking. So, starting by associating them with smoking would not make a very convincing start. Mucus production and so for over a month is not typical of asthma either. Please, get these symptoms checked out. I will suggest that you meet and talk with your primary care physician. He would do a thorough interrogation, examine you fully and maybe ask for a chest x-ray to address this problem. If there are no problems, then monitoring to see what happens as you have also made a great decision to stop smoking it. If any problem is identified, then management would depend on the initial findings. Please, if you should need any further help with quitting weed permanently lease talk to your doctor so that he can provide you with the resources and help that are available in your community. I hope this addresses your query fully and guides you on the way forward. Thank you so much for using our services and please, feel free to ask for clarifications if need be. I wish you well. Dr. Ditah, MD.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Chobufo Ditah (5 minutes later)

If it did end up being due to smoking would the brown spots be tar being expelled from my body? And this would be good for my body to do if I have now stopped smoking? Thank you very much for your time

Answered by Dr. Chobufo Ditah (54 minutes later)

Brief Answer: the best time for quitting is now! Detailed Answer: Thanks for following up with me. The brown spots cannot be considered tar. They often represent mucus produced a s a result of an inflammatory reaction to the toxic substances found in tobacco products. Whenever you quit smoking,g, the advantages are enormous and within a few years, your risk of developing smoking related diseases is almost equal to that of nonsmokers. The best time to stop is now and I congratulate for taking this bold decision. It is often not easy to make it. I hope that you get the available resources to help prevent you from ever returning to consuming this product again. I hope this addresses your query. Feel free to keep the decision going if you need more clarifications. Thanks. Dr. Ditah, MD

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar